COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD REVIEWS SECOND PERIODIC REPORT OF MADAGASCAR

23 septembre 2003


The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the second periodic report of Madagascar on how that country was implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Madagascar’s Minister of Population, Jacob Félicien Andriampanjava, introduced his country’s report, saying that efforts had been made to facilitate children’s access to education, as well as access to health services by the population as a whole, thus reducing disparities in exercising the rights of children. He said that since 2002, the Government had provided all primary school pupils with school kits and had supported their school registration fees.
Mr. Andriampanjava said the Government had carried out an awareness-increasing campaign to combat harmful traditional practices affecting the rights of children. In collaboration with UNICEF, an Integral Development of the Youth Project had been implemented which focused on the parents’ and community’s responsibilities in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, he added.
Committee Experts, including Awa N’Deye Ouedraogo, who acted as country rapporteur to the report of Madagascar, raised a number of questions, among other things, on the detention of minors and the juvenile justice system; the application of poverty strategies as a priority to protect child rights; the inclusion of children as subjects of democratic rights; the practice of killing twins; the fight against corruption; good governance and democratic promotion programmes; the invasion of pornographic films and videos; the plight of street children and family reunification; adverse consequences of various epidemics and child vaccination; corporal punishment and police brutality; the high infant mortality rate for under 5 year olds; and the situation of children with disabilities.
In a preliminary remark, Ms. Ouedraogo said that it was necessary for the State party to reassign financial resources to programmes pertaining to children; and children should be placed at the heart of the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. She added that the Government should pursue its efforts in bringing changes in attitudes of the society concerning the rights of children and reducing the die-hard traditional practices affecting children.
The delegation of Madagascar was also composed of Alfred Rambeloson, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Madagascar to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Lala Henriette Ratsiharovala Razafindrambodo, Director-General of Studies on Reform; Noëline Ramanantenasoa, of Studies on Reform; Alain Georges Andrianantenaina, Director for Children; Rochel Rokatonarivo, First Counsellor, and Clarah Andrianjaka, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Madagascar in Geneva.
The Committee’s final concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Madagascar will be issued towards the end of its three-week session closing on 3 October.
Madagascar is among the 192 States parties to the Convention and as such it is obligated to provide periodic reports to the Committee on how it is discharging its obligations under the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 24 September, it will devote the whole day to private discussions on draft concluding observations on country reports already considered this session. The Committee’s next public meeting is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 25 September, during which it will review the initial report of Brunei Darussalam (CRC/C/61/Add.5).
Report of Madagascar
The second periodic report of Madagascar (CRC/C/70/Add.18) provides information on the State party’s efforts to implement the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also contains responses to the comments made by the Committee during its consideration of Madagascar’s initial report in 1993. The report says that although the equal status of all citizens is guaranteed in the Convention, and Malagasy law recognizes a range of rights to all children regardless of their filiations, sex, religion or ethnic group, certain groups of children are still unable to exercise most of their rights. Customs, poverty and negative social practices have negative effects on children’s rights.
The report says that parents often discriminate among their own children, whether unconsciously or as a matter of custom. Such discrimination manifests itself in everyday life in the decisions that parents take concerning their children: girls are asked to help parents in household chores more often than boys; and if the family faces financial hardships, girls are often obliged to leave school either to enable their brothers to continue their studies, to look after their younger brothers and sisters so that their parents can work, or to look for jobs in order to support their family. The majority of these girls become teenage mothers.
It is noted that in some Malagasy homes, children constitute a source of labour and free domestic help. They are often obliged to perform arduous household tasks that may have harmful impacts on their health like carrying water and wood, cutting firewood, cooking and laundry, among other things. Children may also constitute a source of income and they are obliged to work to ensure the family’s survival.
Presentation of Report
JACOB FELICIEN ANDRIAMPANJAVA, Minister of Population of Madagascar, said that his country’s Constitution reaffirmed that the conventions relating to women and children were considered as integral parts of Madagascar’s positive law. It also confirmed that the State should combat injustice, inequality and all forms of discrimination. The State should promote the restoration of a State of law that would respect and protect the fundamental freedoms of its citizens. All those affirmations were applicable to the promotion of the rights of the child. The Government had adopted a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper with the aim of promoting rapid and sustainable development, and with the objective of reducing poverty by half within the coming ten years.
Within the context of legislative and administrative reforms that the Government had initiated, a search for legislation concerning the child had been undertaken, and a series of legislative texts had been compiled with regard to the protection of child rights, the Minister said. Several amendments were also proposed to fill the gaps in legislation as a whole. The next step would be to implement legislation which included provisions relating to the Convention.
Mr. Andriampanjava said that efforts had been made to facilitate children’s access to education, as well as access to health services by the population as a whole, thus reducing disparities in exercising the rights of children. Since 2002, the Government had provided all primary school pupils with school kits and had supported their school registration fees. With regard to health, patients were exempted from paying treatment costs due to the political and socio-economic crisis of 2002, thus facilitating the population’s access to health care services.
Concerning harmful traditional practices affecting the rights of children, the Government had undertaken an awareness-increasing campaign focusing on the respect of the rights of the child, Mr. Andriampanjava continued. The campaign was also directed against other problems affecting the child, such as child abuse, exploitation and violence. In collaboration with UNICEF, the Integral Development of the Youth Project had been implemented, which focused on the parents’ and community’s responsibility in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child.
With regard to the ill-treatment of children, child abuse and violence against them, the Minister said that the Government, with support from UNICEF, had put in place a scheme to fight violence against children. The scheme was being run within a multisectoral network and the partners were to intervene according to their competences. The action aimed at increasing public awareness on children’s rights and then to make them understand the notion of violence. The network worked at three levels: identifying, treating and rehabilitating the victim. Three pilot projects had already been put in place in three towns before the problem was dealt with at the national level.
Child sexual exploitation was among the Government’s concerns, Mr. Andriampanjava said. A survey undertaken in two big coastal cities had demonstrated the magnitude of the problem, which had promoted the drafting of a national plan of action to fight the sexual exploitation of children.
Discussion
AWA N’DEYE OUEDRAOGO, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur on the report of Madagascar, said that due to the periodic cyclones that hit the country, and because of economic difficulties, Madagascar had been unable to fully implement the provisions of the Convention. She said that the report lacked statistical data on various issues concerning the rights of children. However, the adoption of legislation pertaining to children’s rights was a positive aspect.
Ms. Ouedraogo asked if the National Human Rights Commission was an independent institution and the manner by which the members were elected. Concerning the autonomous regions, she asked how the State party could guarantee civil rights and fundamental freedoms in those regions. There was a high rate of teenage abortion in some regions leading to death, which had affected the development and the right to life of those minors. What projects were implemented in reducing poverty and malnutrition?
KAMEL FILALI, the Committee Expert who served as country co-rapporteur to the report of Madagascar, said that the recommendations of the Committee on the initial report of the State party had not been made known to the public, and the present report had not been distributed widely either. The country still had two sets of laws: constitutional and customary laws. In that regard, the activities of the National Human Rights Commission were not clearly indicated in the report. The legislation on minors concerning minors in conflict with the law was short and unclear. There was still a social attitude that considered children of former “slaves” as slaves.
Other Committee Experts also raised a number of questions under the main subjects of the definition of the child; general principles of implementation of the Convention; and civil rights and fundamental rights. They asked, among other things, about the majority age; the detention of minors and the juvenile justice system; the application of poverty strategies as a priority to protect child rights; the inclusion of children as subjects of democratic rights; why the State party had not ratified the Convention against Torture; the State party’s evaluation of the activities of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the killing of twins; ministerial coordination efforts on the rights of the child; international assistance to child rights; and the results of the campaigns and seminars on the rights of the child.
Responding, the Malagasy delegation said that UNICEF was helping the Government to implement new projects and programmes. It also played an important role as a partner in all fields concerning children. The relationship between the Government and non-governmental organizations had been established under a law. A whole structure had been put in place for the effective implementation of the law, and NGOs had now become reliable partners of the Government in all areas of social and economic development.
In each autonomous territory, there was a service to promote the family and the rights of children, the delegation said. The Ministry of Population was coordinating the efforts of these services.
The cultural assumption that parents should not have twins was rooted in old cultural practices in some particular tribes in Madagascar, the delegation said. The problem of succession was another reason that had had a negative effect on having twin children. At present twins were not killed by parents due to cultural bias, instead one of them might be abandoned in certain cases.
Concerning Decree No. 62038 on the rights of the child, the delegation said that some of its provisions had been found to be in contradiction with recent legislation, and a reform of the decree was being considered. Children under 13 years were not legally liable for the crimes they committed, while those between 14 and 16 could be considered guilty but not liable. Minors between 16 and 18 could be responsible for their acts in theory but judges could decide otherwise.
The law on nationality discriminated between children born from a Malagasy mother and a foreign father and those born of a Malagasy father and foreign mother, the delegation said. The Government was contemplating a change of the legislation to avoid any forms of discrimination.
Concerning the use of customary and positive laws by courts, the delegation said that in the absence of provisions or if a lacuna existed in the positive law, the judge could refer to customary laws in his rulings. Customary laws were still widely used in many parts of the country.
The Government had signed the Convention against Torture in 2001 and the President of the country would soon travel to New York to ratify it, the delegation said. With regard to the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, preparations were underway for their ratification.
Children could not address complaints directly to the country’s Ombudsperson, the delegation said. However, the Ombudsperson had dealt with cases in which the rights of children had been invoked.
Madagascar was behind in its census since the last one took place in 1975, the delegation said. A census was supposed to take place in 2002 but due to the political crisis, it was not carried out. Preparations were now underway for the 2004 census on demography and human settlement.
Committee Experts continued raising questions under the main issues of family environment and alternative care; basic health and welfare; education, leisure and cultural activities and special protection measures. Questions were raised on issues such as the fight against corruption; good governance and democratic promotion programmes; the invasion of pornographic films and videos; the plight of street children and family reunification; the informal adoption system; adverse consequences of various epidemics and child vaccination; corporal punishment and police brutality; the high infant mortality rate for under 5 year olds; the existence of mobile health services; and the situation of children with disabilities, among other things.
Responding, the delegation said that concerning the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, adopted last June, the first part of it dealt with good governance and rule of law. Efforts would be focused on implementing democratic programmes as basic foundations for poverty reduction strategies.
Young girls had a lot of problems with regard to reproductive health, the delegation said. They confronted such problems as sexually transmitted diseases, violence and acts of rape. At least 56 per cent of girls became pregnant before the age of 17 years, and about 90 per cent of them became mothers. The situation was very disturbing and had prompted the Government to taken preventive measures like introducing reproductive health care programmes for adolescents. Reproductive health education had been introduced in schools, and there had been campaigns in areas where there were no schools.
The country’s infant mortality rate was high in comparison to other countries, the delegation said. The Government was focusing on vaccinations and on eradicating diseases affecting children. The strategy was to cover up to 80 per cent of children. The campaign on anti-tetanus vaccinations had been stepped up in recent years, and it was expected that the situation would be brought under control by 2015.
With regard to malnutrition, the Government had taken steps to help the undernourished through information on food and medicines, the delegation said. Breastfeeding was encouraged, and hospitals provided consultative services for mothers. A mobile health team had been established to respond to health-related issues raised by the community. Special attention was also given to health care services concerning children, and such services had been expanded to all areas of the county.
The Government of Madagascar was worried about the explosion of HIV/AIDS in the country, the delegation said. The number of patients was on the increase, making it a national concern. There was a deficiency in hospitals in caring for HIV/AIDS patients. Only eight screening centres had been created for patients infected with the virus. The country needed international assistance in that regard.
In Malagasy tradition, having a disabled child was considered as a “shame” and a dishonour to the parents, the delegation said. Since disabled children were hidden from appearing in public by their parents, it was difficult to know the exact number of disabled persons in the country. The Government had attempted to change the mentality of the society with regard to disabled children.
With regard to adoption, the delegation said that it was done under “simple adoption”, which had its roots in tradition and was a legal act creating a fictitious kinship that strengthened an existing kinship. Simple adoption imposed on the adoptive parent an obligation to feed, help and assist the adoptee. It required the consent of at least one blood parent. On the contrary, legal adoption conferred on the adoptee the status of a legitimate child. The Government had increased the precautions against abuse of international adoption, for fear of child trafficking or of abandonment.
Abortion was not accepted under the country’s laws and society, the delegation said. The attempt by some non-governmental organizations to submit a bill allowing abortion had been rejected in the past. However, a campaign on the use of contraceptive methods had been launched. A pregnant woman with HIV/AIDS was allowed to terminate her pregnancy, but still the mind-set of the society was against it.
Responding to a series of follow-up questions raised by Committee Experts, the members of the delegation said that within the Ministry of Public Safety, measures had been taken concerning exploitation of domestic helpers and acts of prostitution involving children.
The examining judge on juvenile-related cases also sat as the president of the juvenile court, which was contrary to the principles of a fair trial, the delegation said. That did not happen in the case of offences concerning adults, where the investigating judge could not preside over the court. The Government had taken note of the situation and would rectify it through legislative review.
Because of the repressive and vengeful mind-set of the society, which expected an offender to go to prison, sometimes judges were obliged to put the individual in prison, even if this involved a minor, the delegation said. If an individual was let free, people might suspect the judge of corruption and of accepting bribes.
Preliminary Remarks
AWA N’DEYE OUEDRAOGO, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Madagascar, said that it was with a feeling of great satisfaction that the Committee had held this dialogue with the delegation. The dialogue was a fruitful one. Madagascar was committed to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention. The country had a lot of challenges in legislation, coordination, monitoring and data collection with regard to child rights. The ombudsman should be able to react to cases of children’s rights.
Ms. Ouedraogo said that it was necessary for the State party to reassign financial resources to programmes pertaining to children; children should be placed at the heart of the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper; and cooperation with NGOs should be strengthened by applying legal provisions on their participation. The Government should pursue its efforts in bringing changes in attitudes of the society concerning the rights of children and reducing the die-hard traditional practices affecting children. Further measures should be taken with regard to HIV/AIDS in order to protect children; and awareness should be increased concerning adolescent reproductive health. Poor families with children should be supported within the context of the poverty reduction strategy. Although the Ministry of Public Safety had taken measures against trafficking in children and child prostitution, they should be implemented within the context of the Convention. In conclusion, children should be informed of their rights and should be able to lodge complaints when their rights under the Convention were violated.
Remarks by Delegation
JACOB FELICIEN ANDRIAMPANJAVA, Minister of Population of Madagascar, reiterated his delegation’s appreciation for the enormous interest the Committee had shown in the children of Madagascar. The dialogue was fruitful and the members of the delegation were enriched by the Committee’s suggestions. The Government of Madagascar and its President had opened a wide horizon in the country through their political will concerning the implementation of the rights of the child. He extended an invitation to the Committee for some of its Experts to visit the country as part of the process of the implementation of the Convention.